The media and I

 We are often not happy about our image or weight, we are not satisfied with ourselves.  The media isn’t helping our self-esteem making us feel comfortable in our body and with our image.  The media sets an ideal body image and weight where all of us have to follow in order to feel pretty and confident in ourselves.  With the powerful media around us it’s hard to not feel ashamed about our weight or how we look.  We have high standards of how we look because of the media’s influence in our lives.  It makes females and males alike become self-conscious of their bodies. 

            With a generation of teens where their whole lives are dependent on the internet, the media plays a huge role in the adolescents becoming Bulimic, or anorexic.  In PMC, statistical evidence concludes that more and more kids are becoming anorexic or bulimic because of the media’s influence.  There are many teens that are already dissatisfied with their weight.  The media is only pushing their confidence further down. 
          The result of the media’s influence on teens is being thin.  Being thin has become the prominent goal in anorexics or bulimics that they don’t care about the measures they take in becoming thin and maintaining it. 
          Although the media is so powerful in making people think a certain way, and usually that way isn’t safe.  There are many commercials and shows that promote healthy body weight and lifestyle.  They glorify healthy weight and image instead of the ideal thin model image.  Recently I’ve seen the Special K commercials, how they incorporate healthy looking women that aren’t overly thin looking.  They show the women’s confidence in their own bodies and their healthy ever day diets. 
          Not only is the media influencing the lives of teens, but people in general are also contributing in many teens wanting to be skinny.  Often times we automatically judge a person if they are not super skinny or we say that straightforward.  They become self-conscious and embarrassed about their weight.  So they begin to find ways to cut some of that weight off
          By changing the faces of the media, it could really boost up many teens confidence in their body.  By seeing real everyday people on T.V and not the exaggerated thin looking girl, teens having an eating disorder can drop by a lot.  With the media being all powerful, why not have what they are portraying influenced teens to be comfortable in their own body?

Curing through food

        
  You may believe it or not, but many foods do cure sicknesses.  Food acts like a natural form of medicine that will help stimulate your immune system to fight off diseases.  Food is basically a type of medicine, a natural form of medicine with no additives or preservatives that you see in some over the counter pills.  If you know the right types of food for the right type of sickness their is no need to go get medicine for just something so little as a cold.

        From my personal experience relieving the common cold that we all dread just takes only about a day or two.  Common colds last up to 2 weeks, but from what I've learned is that what you eat when you're sick plays a huge role in how long you're going to be sick.  Drink lots and lots of water, water is very very very beneficial in getting rid of the common cold.  It gets rid of all the harmful toxins in your body.  Eat different kinds of fruits, they are high in vitamins which will help your immune system fight off the common cold.  If you don't have an appetite for food, don't just not eat, force yourself to eat something so your body isn't too weak.  I suggest something light, like a salad, or soup, they are easy to digest and healthy at the same time. Eating right is good for your body and for yourself.  Many people who eat right don’t have to take medications, because they are curing from what the foods they are eating.

         Many types of medicine are made from herbs, fruits or some kind of food product that are grounded up into a pill.  Plant Based Drugs and Medicine has a list of all the types of medicine that are made from plants.  It's shocking to see how much of our medicine are made from plants.  If we eat well and know how to eat, we wouldn't need some types of medicine.  For example if you don't get enough fiber, you're bowel isn't probably going to function properly, thus constipation occurs.  There are medicines that help move the bowel, but those medicine really isn't necessary if you are eating enough fiber (fruits and veggies)!  Some types of problems don't need medicine at all, eating the right type of food and regulating your diet is enough to not have to eat pills. 

 

The Value of Nutrition

  

      Nutrition is an important part part of a person's diet.  Especially in third world countries where many kids and adults are malnourished.  Nutrition makes our bodies healthy and functions properly.
         Eating healthy is a part of having a good nutrition.  By changing the bad habits of your eating lifestyles and replacing it with a healthier diet will make you feel better and look better.   Here are a couple of tips that will help you get started on eating healthy.
          Many people don't eat healthy because they simply don't know how and what is healthy.  Here are a couple of tips to help you out.  Choose olive oil over other kinds of oils, you can cook with olive oil or put a teaspoon of olive oil in your grains.  By just consuming a teaspoon of olive oil a day can prevent cardiovascular disease in the future.  Although it's a little pricey, but it's worth it for the future and the benefits for it are endless.  Choose lighter, healthier salad dressings or make your own salad dressings.  Many salad dressings are heavy and are not good for you.  Vinaigrette dressings are the healthiest, but are careful, many vinaigrette salad dressings have other things added to them.  Choose low fat salad dressings if you want something like ranch,or a thousand island.  Eat at home.  When you’re cooking at home, you know exactly what your putting into your food and you could create healthier food.  At restaurants there are not many places that serve healthy food, because they lack flavor and are lighter.  Even if you do go to a restaurant that serves healthy food, it's not exactly the way you want it.  At home you can cook the way you want it and know what you are putting into your food.  Some people have no clue of how to cook healthy food.  Rachel Ray is well known for her cooking, her web has some recipes that you and your family will like, they are easy to make, healthy and they taste great.  Martha Stewart also has some nice dishes that you will love; she has chicken, salmon, dessert and many other recipes too.  Always remember the most important thing to eating healthy is to love what you eat, don't force your body to eat something that is healthy but you don't like it.  Explore the foods and see what kinds of food you love.   

The culture behind food

        

Food has been a part of human civilization for centuries.  Like humans, food has a cultural meaning behind it.  Something that brings people together or tell a story about the past.  We still see some societies that eat these cultural foods, bringing the past to the present.

         Sometimes we just don't know the deeper meaning of the food we eat or the significance of it during a special day.  Sometimes we become judgmental of societies because of the food they choose to eat.  Culturally speaking many of the times those delicacies are passed down from generation to generation. Many of those foods are still being eaten because it's their identity and culture. As Jean Anthelme Brillat said in 1825, “Tell me what you eat, and I’ll tell you who you are.” Food has had a big connection to societies and it gives us an insight of their beliefs and values.  The Better Health Channel has an explanation of the different religions and their beliefs on food.  Food gives an insight of a culture and society.  
        Around the globe there are many types of food that are eaten on special days.  In the United States turkeys have always been a symbol of Thanksgiving thus always been eaten during Thanksgiving.  In Allison Klein's article on How Thanksgiving Works, she talks about the turkey as a symbolism of "traditional agriculture life".  The first ever pilgrims ate a feast which consisted of cranberries, turkey, corn, stuffing, etc... Even today we still see families eating the same meal during Thanksgiving.  Something so little as a piece of turkey meat tells a big story in our history and our identity of where we're from.  
            Food tells a story about societies past, it brings people together in the food they eat.  In order to understand a person’s culture, it’s important to try their food.  That’s one step in getting to know them.
        Sometimes cultural foods are controversial in the eyes of outsiders.  Some cultures eat strange foods, but as outsiders we tend to think of it as weird, gross or not delectable.   We have to put into consideration and be open minded that what we think as gross, might be tasty to them.  Like how we are eating turkeys on Thanksgiving, individuals around the world might think we are odd and weird eating turkey.  If they know the culture behind why we eat it, they will be more understanding and open about it. 
        

The impact of fast food in America

 

Fast food has grown so much since the last century and it has been so different from the last century.  Everywhere we go, we see McDonalds, Burger King, Taco bell, or Hardees.  Fast food provides Americans with food faster, and cheaper, but it also comes with a cost. 

         With 60% of Americans already overweight, having so many accessible fast food restaurants in America will only increase the obesity rate.   With obesity also comes with complications, heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, and other types of diseases.   In the documentary, Supersize Me Morgan Spurlock, goes on a journey of eating McDonald’s every day, 3 meals a day, for 30 days.  You see the health complications he gets from eating fast food every day.  With big fast food companies, they will pour in billions of dollars into advertising to persuade you to eat there as often as you can.  Fast food is simply not healthy and will cause the rise of obesity if the fast food industry continues to rise. 
          In a business standpoint, fast food companies own the largest food industries.  McDonalds control the largest manufacture of cattle, potatoes and apples.  It's scary to think of how much fast food restaurants have grown all over the nation.  With the growth of more fast food chains, they are not going to care about how well you eat.  It's all about cheapness, speed, quantity and taste.   If the fast food industry keeps growing, the control over food will also grow.  
        Fast food companies don't want us to know about what we are eating, because if we do, then we won't buy them and as a result they begin losing money.  Take a moment to think about how many foods that you have eaten that are not local grown? They are usually produced from either another state or even from another country!  We don't know exactly where our food comes from.  We have come from a society in which foods are not carefully grown but rather food industries care more about quantity rather than quality.  Quantity is where the big profit comes in because more people will buy it.   After watching the documentary over the food industry, it really opened my eyes and made me care about what foods I  am eating, my lifestyles has changed.  I eat only organic now, and I am slowly going towards in becoming a vegetarian.  I hope that each one of you will develop a sense of curiosity and question the food that you are eating, instead of just eating everything.  We only have one life, might as well make a healthy one.

Starbucks

Don’t get me wrong but I love Starbucks, it’s the place that I am just addicted too.  The smell of coffee, creamer and pastries they offer are just simply too tempting to not enter the place.  Once you go in, the temptation pulls you into ordering their warm or refreshing cold drink on a cold or hot day.  You simply just can’t resist the temptation, I mean after all everybody is ordering it and the smell just trickles up your nose.  So you order one and then that’s when you get addicted.  You come in daily now or weekly for your regular cup of latte, mocha, frap or coffee.  And now that’s when the Starbucks cravings begin. 

                Starbucks has become so popular not just of today but has been forever.  You see Starbucks everywhere, not only just in the U.S but it’s gone global.  Every person in the world now is grabbing their daily cup of latte at the nearest Starbucks, sipping on it like an average American.  Just imagine how much coffee Starbucks needs a day to provide the people who want a cup globally.  It’s probably one of the most successful and irresistible coffee shops there are. 

                Such a successful coffee shop that has their customer always coming back is impressive.  So what is Starbucks secret recipe that has their customer come back for more? To me the first secret is that the place has gone so popular that it’s everywhere.  Everyone knows what Starbucks is and know exactly what they sell so they are comfortable going in there.  It’s like their daily place to grab their cup of coffee.  The latte itself is just pure deliciousness, it’s probably has something to do with the amount of sugar that is in the coffee.  The mochas and the fraps I know do contain a lot of sugar.  That’s just what makes the drinks at Starbucks so good.  The fact that everyone is drinking Starbucks and that it’s a must go destination is also a weapon in drawing more people in.  Peer pressure, everyone is drinking it and liking it, so therefore I need to and will also like the place. 

                Starbucks has gone so popular and it’s still maintaining that popularity.  From the warm atmosphere and coffee aroma in the place, to the drinks and pastries they serve, no wonder why it’s so popular and successful.    

                

Eating disorders

            We often only see the physical characteristics of a person who has an eating disorder, from the way they eat or don’t eat, to the way they look.  We don’t take into consideration the psychological impacts of the disorder that made them anorexic or bulimic.  The person’s surrounding environment and how that affects the way they eat or feel about themselves. 

            Many times females or males are not satisfied with their weight.  They find ways to be skinnier, not in a healthy way.  The media has become one of the biggest reasons in people’s dissatisfaction of their weight.  You’re switching the channels, admiring the model’s slim waist, their skinny arms and legs, or flipping through magazine pages in awe of the model’s slim body.  The media has created this ideal image for females and males, and if you don’t look like that then you’re automatically labeled as fat.  The media has targeted teens specifically and they are the victims.  With teens being more into the media, they are perfect targets for eating disorders.  They begin feeling dissatisfaction or low self-esteem about themselves.  That’s usually the first signs in having anorexia or bulimia.   When you are anorexic or bulimic, it’s usually more difficult to lose that mentality of being fat.  It’s better to prevent it then have it happen.  Remember that not everything in the media is true.  Professionals are hired to make models look pretty, and Photoshop is used to make the models look skinnier.  Not every picture you see on the magazine is true.  You don’t know if how much the picture is photo shopped, sometimes the photo shopped pictures look nothing like the original photo. 

            Breaking that mentality of being obese is hard.  That’s why many anorexics refuse to seek help and refuse to believe that they are under weight.  Prevention in the early stages of anorexia is important so it doesn’t get harder for them to get help.  Be supportive and helpful to them so they will seek help.